Ionic Elastomers for Electric Actuators and Sensors

Feng, Chenrun; Rajapaksha, Chathuranga Prageeth; Jákli, Antal

doi:10.1016/j.eng.2021.02.014

Cited by 54 publications

(47 citation statements)

References 285 publications

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“…Soft sensors have received increasing attention in recent years due to the rapidly growing demand for health and motion monitoring in soft robotics, , wearable electronics, , and human–machine interfaces. , The majority of the developed soft sensors are based on elastomers, , thin films, , hydrogels, − foams, , and liquid crystals. , Among them, hydrogels are considered to be one of the promising materials for the development of new soft sensors due to their intrinsic biocompatibility, environmental friendliness, and easy preparation process. − …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrathin and Highly Tough Hydrogel Films for Multifunctional Strain Sensors

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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With good flexibility and biocompatibility, hydrogel-based sensors have been widely used in human motion detection, artificial intelligence, human–machine interface, and other fields. Previous research on hydrogel-based sensors has focused on improving the mechanical properties and signal transmission sensitivity. With the development of human smart devices, there is an increasing demand for hydrogel sensor comfort and more application functions, such as ultrathin structures and recognition functions for contact surfaces, which are realized with higher requirements for the thickness, flexibility, friction resistance, and biocompatibility of hydrogels. Inspired by the ultrathin and flexible characteristics of human organ biofilms, we constructed conductive hydrogel films by using the flim-casting and glycerol–H2O secondary hydration methods. This ultrathin structure enables the hydrogel films to have a high elongation at break of 523.3%, a stress of 3.5 MPa, and a good friction resistance. Combined with the excellent sensing properties (gauge factor = 2.1 and a response time of 200 ms), the hydrogel film-based sensor can not only record human motion signals but also recognize the surface texture and roughness of objects, such as glass, brushes, wood, and sandpaper with mesh sizes of 80, 50, and 24, accurately. In addition, this hydrogel film has a series of excellent properties such as UV shielding, antiswelling ability, and good biocompatibility. This research provides a novel way for the development of emerging soft-material smart devices, such as hydrogel-based electronic skin and soft robots.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrathin and Highly Tough Hydrogel Films for Multifunctional Strain Sensors

Zhang

Wang

et al. 2021

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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“…The past few decades have witnessed a flourishing development of electro-mechanical transducers for use in soft robotics [1][2][3], sensors [4,5] and micropower generations [6][7][8][9]. Piezoelectricity and flexoelectricity are the two major physical mechanisms for linear electro-mechanical transduction for insulating materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexo-Ionic Effect of Ionic Liquid Crystal Elastomers

et al. 2021

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The first study of the flexo-ionic effect, i.e., mechanical deformation-induced electric signal, of the recently discovered ionic liquid crystal elastomers (iLCEs) is reported. The measured flexo-ionic coefficients were found to strongly depend on the director alignment of the iLCE films and can be over 200 µC/m. This value is orders of magnitude higher than the flexo-electric coefficient found in insulating liquid crystals and is comparable to the well-developed ionic polymers (iEAPs). The shortest response times, i.e., the largest bandwidth of the flexo-ionic responses, is achieved in planar alignment, when the director is uniformly parallel to the substrates. These results render high potential for iLCE-based devices for applications in sensors and wearable micropower generators.

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“…For comprehensive reviews on charged polymers for specific applications or reviews on specific types of charged polymers, the reader is directed elsewhere. [ 2–4,6,7,10,18,19,25,28–40 ]…”

Section: Morphology Ion Correlations and Materials Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Charge-containing polymers are used in a diverse array of applications, consequently making them a prominent area of research for the past several decades. Batteries, [1][2][3] fuel cells, [4][5][6] actuators and transducers, [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] and separation membranes [16][17][18][19][20] are among the continually growing list of useful applications investigated, most of which require dimensional stability. The introduction of charges into polymeric materials often impairs mechanical integrity, depending on the environmental conditions and electrostatic interaction strength, which can result in undesirable aqueous dissolution or brittleness.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermodynamics and Structure–Property Relationships of Charged Block Polymers

Grim

Green

2022

Macro Chemistry & Physics

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Advancements in electronics and energy storage and conversion technologies brings with it myriads of exciting material design challenges. Charge-containing block polymers (BPs) offer unique features which can overcome some of these challenges and have thus aroused substantial interest within the field of designer soft materials. The properties of BPs are intricately coupled to the dynamic and rich nature of the nanostructured assemblies, which result from the phase separation between blocks. The introduction of strong secondary forces, such as electrostatics and hydrogen bonding (H-bonding), into BPs greatly influences their self-assembly behavior, and therefore affects their physical and electrochemical properties often in nontrivial ways. In this review, some of the prevailing research, which has expanded the understanding of structure-property relationships to include several design strategies for improving ionic conductivity and modulus in charged block polymers, is presented. The profound extent to which electrostatics and hydrogen bonding impact block polymer thermodynamics, an extent which is demonstrated by recent theoretical and experimental work, is also highlight. Insights gained from the research presented here help to lay the groundwork for a long and bright future in the field of advanced soft materials.

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Ionic Elastomers for Electric Actuators and Sensors

Cited by 54 publications

References 285 publications

Ultrathin and Highly Tough Hydrogel Films for Multifunctional Strain Sensors

Ultrathin and Highly Tough Hydrogel Films for Multifunctional Strain Sensors

Flexo-Ionic Effect of Ionic Liquid Crystal Elastomers

Thermodynamics and Structure–Property Relationships of Charged Block Polymers

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